Veteran journalist Paul Bauman, based in Sacramento, covers all levels of Northern California tennis. Contact him at norcaltennisczar@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @norcaltenczar.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Bellis, 18, loses to Garcia in Toronto

CiCi Bellis' run in the Rogers Cup in Toronto ended today with a 6-4, 6-2 loss to Caroline Garcia of France in the third round.
The 18-year-old Bellis, who grew up in Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area, had defeated 35th-ranked Julia Goerges of Germany and eighth-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.
Kuznetsova, a two-time Grand Slam singles champion, was the second top-10 player Bellis has beaten. She knocked off then-No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round at Dubai in February.
Bellis, the youngest player in the top 40, will improve approximately three places to No. 33. She could be seeded in the U.S. Open, Aug. 28-Sept. 10, after reaching the third round at Flushing Meadows as a qualifier last year. Bellis then turned pro.
Garcia, five years older than Bellis and ranked 21st, will play second-ranked Simona Halep in the quarterfinals.

About Me

Paul Bauman has 36 years of professional newspaper experience, including the past 15 at his hometown Sacramento Bee. He has covered hundreds of pro tennis tournaments, including Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the Australian Open, the Davis Cup, the Fed Cup and the Japan Open. Bauman has earned numerous awards and was nominated for the inaugural class of the Sacramento Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009. He wrote “Agassi & Ecstasy,” a biography of Andre Agassi published in 1997, while working at the Las Vegas Review-Journal in Agassi's hometown and was named the 1986 Nevada Sportswriter of the Year during a stint at the Reno Gazette-Journal. Bauman served as the editor of the ATP newspaper in the Dallas area in 1982-83 and graduated from Stanford University in 1977.